Deri Kanseri ve Güneş Bilgi Ölçeğinin Türkçeye Uyarlanması ve Ankara’da Bir Üniversitenin Açık Havada Çalışan Mesleklere Ait Bölümlerinde Eğitim Gören Öğrencilerin Deri Kanseri Bilgisinin, Güneşten Korunma Davranışlarının ve İlişkili Faktörlerin Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

In this study, it was aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Skin Cancer and Sun Knowledge Scale (SCSK) and to investigate some sun protection attitudes, sun protection behaviors, knowledge levels about skin cancer and some related factors of students studying in departments of outdoor professions at Hacettepe University. The first phase of this two-stage study was methodological and the second phase was descriptive. Data were collected under observation in April 2024 with the participation of 175 students studying in the departments of civil, geological, hydrogeological and geomatics engineering and archaeology. The data were collected with a data collection tool consisting of six parts: “sociodemographic characteristics”, “skin cancer risk factors”, “sun exposure and protection behaviors during the education process”, “sun exposure, sun protection, tanning and examination behaviors”, “SCSK” and “Sun Protection Behaviors scale (SPBS)”. In the first stage, it was accepted that the scale of SCSK was a valid scale as a result of language, face, content and construct validity analyses. The Kuder Richardson value calculated in the reliability analysis was 0.838 and the McDonald Omega coefficient was 0.843. With these results, the scale was accepted as a reliable scale. Prior to the construct validity and reliability analyses, five items with an item discrimination index lower than 0.3 were removed from the scale, and these analyses were conducted on the remaining 20 questions. In the second stage, the participants' knowledge levels were evaluated with the SCSK, which was shown to be valid and reliable, and their sun protection behaviors were evaluated with the SPBS. More than half (60.0%) of the students participating in the study were male. Almost one third (31.4%) of the participants were geomatics and one third (31.4%) were civil engineering students. Females had higher levels of knowledge and used sun protection more frequently. The mean knowledge score (SCSK) of the partcipants was 7.80±4.69 out of 20 points. The level of knowledge was statistically increased by maternal education level (p<0,0001), self-examination status (p=0,02), information source physician (p=0,003), news website (p=0,03), high school/university education (p=0,035) and television (p=0,03). The frequency of protection behaviors increased statistically when the source of information was family and friends (p=0,046) and when the source of information was a physician/health worker (p=0,004). As a result of this study, it is thought that the risk knowledge levels and frequency of sun protection behaviors of students studying in departments belonging to professions working outdoors are low, and it is important to take necessary precautions and plan interventions in this regard.